Flyers erupt in second to bury Rangers

Feb 15, 2009 - 10:03 PM

NEW YORK (Ticker) -- The Philadelphia Flyers and New York
Rangers entered Sunday's game at Madison Square Garden separated
by only one point in the standings. But the Atlantic Division
rivals looked worlds apart on the ice.

Getting a rare goal while they were two men down from captain
Mike Richards, the Flyers cruised to a 5-2 victory over the the
Rangers, who were roundly booed during a second-period collapse
in which they surrendered four goals in a span of just over 7
1/2 minutes.

"Back-to-back games force you to stay sharp because you are
coming off a game and not practicing," said Flyers coach John
Stevens, whose team defeated the New York Islanders, 5-1, on
Saturday.

"We knew this weekend was going to be tough. I thought the start
was important for us."

New York was awarded a two-man advantage for 78 seconds when
Jeff Carter was whistled for tripping Marc Staal 19 seconds into
the second.

But New York's power play continued to look inept, as the
Rangers were 0-for-5 with the man advantage, extending their
slump to 1-for-31 in the last nine games.

"I don't know their history on power plays or shorthanded
goals," Richards said. "Whenever we play (the Rangers), we
always try to take advantage of maybe them betting a little too
relaxed on the power play."

The Rangers were embarrassed when Richards took a lead pass from
blue-liner Braydon Coburn in the neutral zone and split between
captain Chris Drury and defenseman Michal Rozsival.

Richards broke in alone and beat goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to
the stick side, giving the Flyers a 2-0 lead 78 seconds into the
period.

"I always try to score shorthanded," added Richards, who became
the first player in NHL history to score three goals while his
team was playing two men down. "(Coburn) made a good play and I
got a little lucky. I missed my shot and it went in."

It was the Flyers' league-best 14th shorthanded goal of the
season and the fifth scored by Richards. The Rangers
surrendered their 14th shorthanded goal, also a league high.

"Not very happy, it's as simple as that," New York coach Tom
Renney said. "It's one of those things where you try to press
(on the power play) to get a part of your game going and you
give up a shorthanded goal."

Philadelphia poured it on as defenseman Matt Carle, Glen
Metropolit and Mike Knuble scored 1:49 apart to give the Flyers
a 5-0 lead just 8:52 into the period.

Suddenly, the Flyers are scoring goals in bunches. In
Saturday's victory, Carle, Arron Asham and Simon Gagne tallied
in a span of 67 seconds in the third period.

Philadelphia, which completed the weekend sweep of the New York
teams, is in fourth place in the East - three points ahead of
the Rangers.

"I think that's great for us," Stevens said. "But we got to make
sure we stay on our toes. In the third, there was a lot more we
could have done. They carried the play in the third."

For the second time in as many days, rookie Claude Giroux got
the Flyers off to a good start. He staked Philadelphia to a 1-0
lead with just his third goal of the season 8:12 into the
opening period and added a pair of assists for his first career
multi-point game.

Lundqvist, who made 42 saves in Friday's 2-1 shootout loss at
Florida, was pulled following Metropolit's goal.

"We're too vulnerable," New York left wing Markus Nasland said.
"We let a goal dictate the outcome of the game, even though we
were still in the game. We let them get the momentum and they
just pulled away and they get a 5-0 lead."

Stephen Valiquette faced only six shots in relief of Lundqvist
over the final 33 minutes. However, after building their
commanding lead, the Flyers were more interested in clamping
down defensively against the league's lowest-scoring team.
Netminder Martin Biron turned aside 35 shots for Philadelphia.

Lauri Korpikoski got New York on the board with 7:35 left in the
second period and Nikolai Zherdev scored midway through the
third. The Rangers have just one win in their last eight games
(1-5-2).